Though they fell behind early, Escalon’s JV football team put up a fight on the road at Hilmar on Friday night, Oct. 2. They ended up falling jus a little short, taking a 35-28 loss to the JV Yellowjackets.

In the first quarter, Hilmar took the lead on a 51-yard rushing touchdown and extra point to lead 7-0. They made it 14-0 in the second quarter on a 21-yard pass play and extra point, then made it 21-0 with a 29-yard rushing touchdown and the point after.

Escalon cut into the lead on an Adam Cordeiro 38-yard touchdown pass to Lucas Machado and Moises Cortes added the point after, making it 21-7 at the half.

Ty Caton went in on a 19-yard rushing play in the third and Cortes made the kick, pulling Escalon to within 21-14. But Hilmar answered on a 36-yard rushing touchdown with the kick good to go up 28-14.

Fourth quarter action saw Vinny Reis score a touchdown from a yard out and Cortes added the kick to make it 28-21 Hilmar, with the Yellowjackets once again answering back, this time on a 51-yard rushing touchdown and the kick, extending the lead to 35-21.

Escalon got the final points of the night, on a 2-yard rushing touchdown from Lucas Trejo and the kick by Cortes, making it 35-28, but that was as close as the JV Cougars would get, falling 35-28.

“The big hole we found ourselves in early proved to be too much to overcome,” said JV head coach Brant Rose. “We lost the turnover battle for a third straight game, this time 3-1; with our one forced turnover being a brilliant interception by Adam Cordeiro late in the first half.”

Rose said the “offense put together a nice performance” that kept the team in the game, but the defense struggled, giving up several big plays that always kept Hilmar ahead.

“Credit to our team for showing the most fight we’ve seen from them in a few weeks and not giving up after falling behind big early in the game,” noted Rose.

FRESHMEN

On the road at Hilmar on Oct. 1, it was a shutout win for Escalon’s youngest Cougars, as the freshman football team won by a 15-0 final over the Yellowjackets.

“We know that Hilmar will always play their best game against us,” said head coach Nate Caton. “It’s my favorite rivalry I look forward to every year.”

Escalon went in a little undermanned, however, as their starting offensive guard was injured and couldn’t play and their starting center was injured on the first drive.

“We were left with rotating guys in and out on the offensive line, and those guys did a great job including Romeo Martinez at center, Guadalupe De Le O Vigil at tackle, and Jeremiah Gentry, Jonathan Acosta and Dylan Borges at guards,” explained Caton. “In addition, we needed DL to replace our starters, so Guadalupe and Michael Achterberg stepped up.”

The teams battled through a scoreless first half, as a late scoring threat for Hilmar ended with an interception by Aiden Yates-Perreira.

“I thought he was gone until he ran out of bounds,” Caton said. “Second half started with us having possession of the ball.”

It was a big play from quarterback Frank Borba, connecting with Max Castillo, who then ran for 49 yards until he was stopped at the 3-yard line. From there, Danny Arevalo went in for the touchdown.

“After Danny scored, we messed up the snap on the PAT and thankfully Masyn Bettencourt, our holder, improvised and threw it to Nixon Walker for a 2-point conversion. The whole sideline got excited for him and we were up 8-0,” Caton explained.

The following possession, when Hilmar had the ball, Walker and Achterberg combined on a huge play to force a fumble, with Arevalo recovering the ball.

“As we were driving down the field and started the ball at their 9-yard line, Aiden ran the ball and scored and with a successful PAT, that put us up 15-0,” said Caton. “Throughout the rest of the game, our defense was playing great. There were some plays Hilmar got away with, but our guys responded great.”

Linebackers Joseph O’Brien, Arevalo, Vick Tillman and Angel Tinoco “had a great game,” the coach noted, keeping Hilmar scoreless.

“I was proud for our guys at the end of the game and they deserved the win,” Caton said. “Hilmar is a great program and I wish them a successful league run.”

This week, the freshmen will welcome Hughson to town for a 7 p.m. contest on Thursday, Oct. 8.

“Our schedule will get tougher from now until the end of the season, and we must prepare for the next challenge,” Caton said.